No, we can’t really eliminate political dynasties. What we can and must eliminate is a sub-system (within an unjust socio-economic mother system) that allows a few rich to exclusively win elections and proceed to impose their will with impunity on the many. With essentially the same system, we are no better off today, maybe even worse, 40 years after Edsa.
A sure sign of an unjust socio-economic system is our lopsided demography of our demography: a wealthy elite, a negligible middle-income group, but a huge number of the poor and vulnerable. This is ironic considering that the majority of Filipinos are Christians who supposedly worship a God of justice, love and peace. We pretend to be a democracy where the majority rules. But the opposite is true. Political dynasties, a clear minority, have monopoly control of the nation’s political, economic and cultural life.
The latter have more than sufficiently demonstrated their use of political power to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of the population. The latest flood control corruption scandal exposed this heartless and vicious abuse of power. Worse still, they show no contrition whatsoever. It is looking like they will continue to push the rest of us to the cliff’s edge.
We have no choice but to push back. But it is not enough that we push for Congress to enact an anti-dynasty law. The election sub-system (of our unjust socio-economic system) must be comprehensively overhauled to prevent members or surrogates of political dynasties from exclusively winning high office with massive cash dole-outs. You can have as many anti-dynasty laws as you want but as long as the election sub-system is not overhauled and reset to provide fair and equal opportunity for all parties, political dynasties will continue to dominate our elections and rule this nation any unjust way they want.
But how do you change the election sub-system when those it favors are in power? The question, therefore, is how the majority can attain the political power needed to change the electoral sub-system and eventually the bigger socio-economic system?
The problem is national and must ultimately be solved at that level. But we have to start the solution at the local level. The marginalized sector, for instance, of Cebu City must form a genuine people’s party that eventually will unite with other local people’s parties to gain power and win local elections first but eventually national elections.
Ambitious? Yes, but it is a necessary step to make towards peaceful and meaningful social change. The alternative is to gain political power by the proverbial barrel of a gun. We don’t want this even as I pray political dynasties do not push us to a corner where the only weapon available is a gun.
In Cebu City, the formation of a party does not have to start from scratch. There are many groups (people’s organizations, urban poor alliances, Carbon vendors, etc.) that are moving for responsive and responsible governance. Their movement can and maybe should grow into a genuine pro-poor political party.
Without a party of their own, the poor will remain as vulnerable as ever.